ok over by my house there 2 very old sidings the dates on some of the 75lb and 85lb rail are 1880s to 1910s and one from there are the tie plates on the switch area that say C.M&St.P (milwaukee road) and i am looking about how to get one of those plates they look really cool and are very old. THe rail that is over by my house is 90lb jointed and they are replacing it with 115lb CWR and i think that they may get rid of the siding but i want one of those plates even if i have to buy it. How do you think that i could go about getting one?
When the BNSF replaced the stick rail near me with CWR and lengthened a siding, it was a couple of years before they policed up some of the debris. A single rail of 136# CWR (I think it is full length) and a pallet of precast concrete road crossing panels remain there to this day. Collections like the one below were common for quite some time:
By all means ask the track crew…and if they say no, ask who you can contact, like a roadmaster or trainmaster or superintendent. Tell them why you want it; let them know you’re not going to take to a scrap dealer as a sample! Don’t be shy, but be honest.
That is interesting. I have never seen railroad intials on any track material. It certainly would make the items collectible. Those plates are from when they called the railroad “The St. Paul.”
Asking is how we got a Milwaukee Road switchstand, a C&NW switchstand, many no tresspassing signs, rail from the Portage, WI trolley system (We got this in the 90’s, but they apparently just found some more durring the Cook Street renovation…)
that would be cool to have a switch stand i should ask for one of them also. i think that they might just do away with the siding but they do use it to store MOW vehicles
Before you ask for too much, consider transportation. You can’t just sling a switchstand over your shoulder and jog away with it or put in a bicycle basket. Even a handful of tie plates get heavy if you carry them very far.
Asking the MOW crew is the best bet. I’d also wager that if you took a walk along side the ROW (stay off the tracks - I mean off the roadbed on the side), you might very well find one of those tie plates that had been discarded by previous work. Switchstands are certainly heavy - even the old M&StL stand I found in a ditch near Green Isle, MN was one of the lighter varieties and it was a bear to lug back to the car. If you can find a place that does sandblasting, you can get a switchstand cleaned-up and repainted pretty easy and it makes a great display in the house (especially if you do some research and find the right type of reflector or lantern to mount on it - I did that by searching eBay - a very satisfying project).
You better find out how thrilled he would be with that iron around the house also. Believe it or not my father wouldn’t let me bring home a Rolls Royce car.
First and most important,don’t just pick up any railroad material laying around anywhere without permission.This is a Federal crime that could land you in serious trouble.
What I would do is ask someone that is with the MoW dept. in that area if you could get what your asking about.
They may refer you to the “material management dept.” of that railroad.
I work for the NS and have tried to get and old N&W target signal that’s been laying around and was gave that exact answer,ask the material management dept. .
The price of scap has made this happen.In years past you would have been given what you asked for.They will give you a price per pound of steel,and work with some MoW boss to determine the price.
And folks never take anything railroad related to the scap yard.It is a Federal crime to do so,unless your the railroad or a company contracted by the railroad to haul their scrap .
Check out the link below on some railroad thieves where I work.They have now been caught due to the t.v. coverage below. [2c]
even though the scrap price of steel for the tie plate would only be about 1.00 at most so if i had to pay 5.00 for it i would be quite happy. Didnt know about the federal crime thing though!
